Black and White
by ShadowLyrics1
Summary: Holy Rome is stuck in a black space being haunted by the soldiers he killed when a mysterious girl named Avan comes and saves him! He finds himself in the modern day with the mission to find Italy. *My fist one-shot! Please review!*


Holy Rome panicked as he ran aimlessly around, sword in hand. There was nothing above him, nothing below him, and nothing to the sides. Everything was black. But he wasn't alone. After his death, he somehow came here, to be haunted by the soldiers he killed in the war. He had been running around - how long? – hundreds of years at least. Never once had he smiled or laughed or even felt happiness. Here there was only fear.

A greyed hand shot out from the invisible ground and grabbed Holy Rome's leg. He let out a shriek as he tripped and fell on his face. There were more of them. Those ghost soldiers, all grey and angry looking. Holy Rome knew he was in for a world of pain. He could never die, he already was dead. But he could be hurt. This happened often, but the nation never got used to the feeling.

_Someone help me,_ he prayed silently. _I don't want to stay here anymore. I want to be with Italy again. I'm scared…_

He shut his blue eyes, knowing what was to come. The ghosts raised their swords, ready to strike. But when Holy Rome opened his eyes, the ghosts screamed and faded away. The next thing he knew, Holy Rome's eyes felt great pain. There was something he hadn't seen in centuries: light. It enveloped the environment, and the empire forced his eyes opened, taking pleasure in the sight. He was confused and still frightened, but now felt much safer.

"Morning," a girl said. Holy Rome sat up. A beautiful teenage girl with purple hair and freckles gazed down at him with a smile. She held out her hand. "You must be tired and lonely. Come with me, I'll help you."

Holy Rome reluctantly took her extended hand and smiled at her. Her green eyes sparkled. Holy Rome wondered if she was dead too.

"I'm Avan," she introduced. "And you must be the Holy Roman Empire. It's nice to finally meet you. I've been watching you for a while now."

"Who are you?" Holy Rome croaked. He hadn't spoken in so long, his own voice surprised him.

"Ever heard of a guardian angel?" Avan asked. The nation nodded. "I'm a lot like that. Come on, now. You must want to see Italy again." Holy Rome nodded excitedly. "You might need this, then." She held out her hand and in it appeared a push broom. She handed it to the boy, who accepted it.

"The broom Italy gave me," Holy Rome said wistfully. "I thought I lost it when I died."

"Times a-wasting!" Avan said cheerfully. "Italy's a full grown country now, isn't that great?"

"Really?" Holy Rome asked. "Oh. I guess she doesn't need me anymore then."

"Perhaps you should check up on _her,_" Avan giggled. Holy Rome didn't like the way she said that last word. "I'm sorry it took me so long to rescue you from this terrible place. I was helping Italy too. _She's_ not very strong."

"Can we go now?" Holy Rome asked. "Please?"

"Of course," Avan said gently. She closed her eyes and focused, the scenery melting around the two as she did so. Holy Rome looked up to the blue sky, clouds littering it.

_The sky,_ Holy Rome thought happily. _It really is! I'm back! And-_ His words were cut off as he saw something fly across his field of vision.

Oh, that?" Avan caught him staring. "That's a plane. It carries people and takes them places. It's the fastest way to travel. I bet they didn't have that in your time.

_Hoooonk!_ Holy Rome jumped as a giant vehicle passed.

"Truck," Avan explained. "Like a plane, only on the ground."

Holy Rome looked forward to see a group of young girls walking down the pavement towards him. They wore strange and revealing outfits that Holy Rome found insanely immodest.

"Oh, look at that kid!" one with blonde hair exclaimed. "He's so cute!"

"But his outfit looks a little strange to me," a black haired one said. "Is he a cosplayer?"

Holy Rome looked down and studied his black cloak. He wasn't dressed strangely! Says them!

As the girls walked past, the blonde asked, "Who are you supposed to be?"

"The Holy Roman Empire!" he replied proudly.

"Never heard of that character," the black haired said. "He looks adorable, though!"

"How rude!" Holy Rome said once they were out of earshot.

"They're right, you are cute!" Avan said cheerfully. "Anyway, I'm going to take you to Italy, okay? Follow me." She sauntered down roads, turning this way and that. Holy Rome struggled to keep up, but somehow managed to follow her and run right into… _him._

"_France!?_" he exclaimed. "You're still alive?!" France, who was also dressed strangely, stopped in his tracks and stared at the empire in horror.

"No," he stuttered. "You're dead. I killed you! Didn't I?"

Holy Rome took this opportunity to have a little fun, something he would rarely do. "Boo!" he yelled, his arms outstretched. "I'm such a scary ghost boy!" France let out a girly shriek and ran away.

"Nice!" Avan said. She held out her hand. Holy Rome stared at it blankly. "It's a high-five." She forced his hand up and slapped it. Holy Rome didn't understand, but went with her strange ways. "We're almost to Italy's!" she announced.

"Right," Holy Rome said, his grip tightening on his broom. It only took a few minutes until Avan grabbed Holy Rome by the arm and yanked him behind some bushes.

"Look there," she said crouching and hiding. She pointed to a space in between the branches. Holy Rome peered between it to see a man being confronted by several others. One Asian, one with silver hair, one with giant eyebrows, and one with glasses. They all had different accents, so Holy Rome concluded they were countries.

"Recognize anyone?" Avan asked.

"No," Holy Rome whispered.

"What about the man being singled out?' Avan added.

Holy Rome took a closer look. The man had auburn hair with a curl on the left side of his head. If the empire didn't know any better, that looked a lot like Italy.

"That man resembles Italy," he said. "Are they related?"

"No," Avan said. "That is Italy."

Holy Rome chocked on his own breath.

"What?!" he yelled too loudly. All heads turned to him.

"Who's there?" an accent Holy Rome didn't recognize said threateningly. The nation with glasses marched over and Holy Rome, seeing no point in continuing to hide, sprung up and raised his sword, handing his broom to Avan.

"Darn," the country said with disappointment. He turned back to the others. "It's just a little runt, dudes, don't worry about it."

Holy Rome didn't understand half the words he said, but pointed his sword and the country's throat. He was too paranoid from his years in that…place.

"Um…" Holy Rome had failed to notice the auburn haired man staring at him.

"Just answer my question, no hedging, alright?" the empire said flatly. "Are you Italy?"

"…Y-yeah," he answered. "You remember me, right?"

"I do now," Holy Rome said, lowering his weapon. He then shifted his gaze to the man with the glasses. "And what were you doing to him?"

"Geez, man, don't throw a fit," he said.

"That's America, Britain, China, and Russia," Italy interrupted. "They sort of…do this a lot."

"'America?'" Holy Rome repeated. "I've never heard of such a place."

"He's pretty young compared the rest of us," Italy replied, his gaze transfixed on Holy Rome.

"I don't really want to bully a kid," Britain said. "Maybe we should go."

"Italy'll still be here tomorrow anyway," Russia said with a smile.

"Let's go and bother France then," China suggested. Before the others knew it, they were gone.

"That's really you, right, Holy Rome?" Italy asked, taking a hesitant step forward. Holy Rome simply reached down to Avan, took the broom from her, and held it out.

"It is," he answered. "I've spent a long time in a strange place. Not counting here."

Italy blinked and then laughed. "You don't understand modern technology, do you?" Holy Rome blushed and Italy walked over to him, picking him up. "That's alright, I'll teach you everything there is to know."

"Thanks," Holy Rome grumbled.

"I'm glad you kept your promise to come back," Italy added. "I missed you a lot. I'll introduce you to Germany too. You look like him, now that I think about it."

"Really?" Holy Rome felt at ease, now that he was back with Italy.

"And you'll never leave again, right?" Italy asked with worry.

"I promise I won't," Holy Rome said. "Now, could you, uh, put me down?"

"Oh, sorry!" Italy apologized. He set him back on the ground, but still took his hand and dragged him away into a nearby house. "Wait until you see my home! You can stay here if you'd like!"

"Huh?" Holy Rome said in surprise. "S-sure! I'd love to!"

Avan watched them leave and thought to herself, _It's like he's forgotten he's dead. But…this time I'll make an exception. The two will be able to leave this world together when Italy is ready. The they'll be able to spend this life together as well as the next._

**The End**

** *That's it! My first one-shot! My first Holy Rome FanFic didn't turn out the way I wanted to, so I made this one. I frankly like this one better! Plus, I'm at my Dad's and I don't have my other stories with me, so I made this. And that black space at the beginning of the story? You can decide what that place was! It's sort of my take on a kind of mini-Hell, but I'd like to hear you theories! And Avan? She was based on the English Vocaloid Avanna. Look up her covers of Titanium and Dumb ways to Die. Thanks for reading!**

** -Shadow L.***


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